May 10, 2012

Trustees OK solar swap

By Lynn Burton Sopris Sun Staff Writer The Carbondale trustees on Tuesday night did something they’ve never previously been asked to do.

The board voted 7-0 to waive the town’s “energy off-set� requirement for a house under construction in River Valley Ranch. In return, the home owners (Charlie and Megan Cook) will contract with the Clean Energy Collective to become part of one of the company’s solar arrays. “We want to purchase renewable energy and feel the best way to provide clean energy is in a utility scale system that has long term maintenance and allows us to play a meaningful role in reducing the (electric) utility’s dependency on fossil fuels with renewable energy,� wrote the Cooks in a memo to the town.

The El Jebel-based Clean Energy Collective sells individual solar panels in its multipanel arrays. Local utilities, such as Excel Energy or Holy Cross, buy the electricity produced by the array and credit the solar-panel owner’s bills. “Anyone in the community with a utility bill can participate,�said a Clean Energy Collective memo to the trustees.

The company’s solar arrays are located around the state, including the Blue Lake area along Highway 82 and the GarďŹ eld CountyAirport. Other local arrays slated for completion this year or next will be located outside Carbondale at the LaFarge gravel pit on County Road 109 and across from Rie High School.

Clean Energy Collective (CEC) was founded by Roaring Fork Valley native Paul Spencer.

The Carbondale Board of Trustees passed an ordinance a few years ago that applies to new homes of more than 3,000 square feet that requires owners to install a small renewable energy system on site or pay a fee. According to the ordinance, options for complying with the minimum renewable energy system are:“two panel solar hot water for domestic hot water for houses between 3,0005,000 square feet; or solar electric system for houses over 3,000 square feet; or pay a fee; or other system exceeding this performance.�

The fee options range from $3,000 to $20,000 depending on house size up to 10,000 square feet, according to a memo from town manager Jay Harrington.

The Cooks concluded their memo by saying community solar such as Clean Energy Collective is a better ďŹ nancial investment than on-site solar.“Not only do we get more power and credits for the same price as a roof-top system we get maintenance and better equipment.â€?

After the meeting, trustee Allyn Harvey said “I appreciate the Cooks and CEC for bringing this idea forward. Giving homeowners another option for meeting the community’s energy goals makes sense.�

In other business from Tuesday night, the trustees approved special event liquor licenses for Bonedale Bike Week and PAC3’s upcoming Music in the Mountains and heard several updates.

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Boughs fell to the ground one by one as workers in a cherry picker started cutting down ďŹ ve spruce trees to make way for the new Carbondale library at Third and Sopris on Tuesday. This tree was at the east end of the line of trees.

Dino Baldizan took a minute to watch the operation. He said when he attended the old Roaring Fork High School, the tree’s boughs came all the way to the ground and students would hide under them to smoke.

Photo by Lynn Burton

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THE SOPRIS SUN â&#x20AC;˘ MAY 10, 2012 â&#x20AC;˘ 9